We may not have won this time around but we are truly happy to have been a part of the awards and we are all very happy with being runner up against such a strong category

Teach Secondary magazine is pleased to announce the winners and finalists of the first Technology & Innovation Awards in association with LEGO® Education.

The brand new awards are specifically focused on technology and innovation in the classroom and recognise products and resources as well as teachers, authors and bloggers.

“It was important for us to give people the chance to nominate inspiring individuals as well as great technical developments,” says Teach Secondary editor, Helen Mulley. “Brilliant innovations are only truly effective in the hands of outstanding teachers – and we need both if we’re going to ensure students are getting the education they need and deserve for the 21st century.”

The final judging decisions were made by a high profile panel of education experts, including Vic Goddard (featured on Channel 4’s Educating Essex); Fiona Millar (Guardian journalist and co-founder of the Local Schools Network); Lydia Beaton (global head of the James Dyson Foundation); Gareth Boldsworth (European Sales and Marketing manager for LEGO® Education) and Ollie Bray (Naace).

The full list of winners and finalists will be published in the first edition of Technology & Innovation magazine, launched on 5th September 2014. Presentations will be made at The BETT Show 2015, 21-24 January, Excel London.

Category winners:

Best Teacher: Chloe Davies, head of science/biology teacher, East London Science School
Described as “”a fantastic teacher, who consistently uses technology in her lessons in genuinely useful ways”, Chloe has had an extremely positive impact on teaching across all departments at the East London Science School – and, thanks to her Twitter feed and blog, beyond.
Vic Goddardsays, “All of the shortlisted teachers showed just how much potential the use of technology has in the hands of great teachers who understand that just using it doesn’t automatically make lessons more interesting!“

Best Author: Carrie Anne Philbin, for Adventures in Raspberry Pi (John Wiley and Sons)
Carrie Anne was nominated many times for her fun, accessible and enormously inspiring book designed to help teachers get young people coding with the Raspberry Pi computer. She is now working for the Raspberry Pi Foundation as Education Pioneer.

Best Blogger: Mark Anderson, ictevangelist.com
“All the shortlisted blogs are very good,“ says judge Fiona Millar, „but ICT Evangelist felt to me the most polished, easy to navigate and comprehensive for a non expert, non tekkie and non-teacher governor like me.“

Technology & Innovation Ambassador: Terry Freeman
Recognising an individual who has made an exceptional contribution to the progress of technology and innovation in education, this year’s award goes to ICT in education adviser Terry Freeman, who says “Whether as a teacher, ICT advisor, Principal Officer at QCA, Ofsted inspector, independent consultant or in articles on the www.ictineducation.org website, my view has always been that just because you can do something, it doesn’t mean you should, so I suppose I would describe myself as a cautious innovator, not one of the ‘gung ho’ variety!”

Technological Innovation of the Year: GCSEPod
“GCSEPod does what all the best products do: it makes you ask, ‘why didn’t I think of that?’.
Providing excellent quality content in an easily accessible audio file means that students can study a topic simply by popping in their headphones, all without disturbing their day-to-day activities. It’s so simple! Genius.”
Judge, David Morgan, @LessonHacker

Technology & Innovation bookazine offers a comprehensive overview of the latest developments in 21st century teaching and learning. With product reviews, case studies, opinion and advice, it’s an informative and entertaining read for anyone involved in secondary education – and a valuable resource for ICT decision makers. Mailed to heads of ICT, bursars and network managers within every secondary school and academy in England and Wales, it’s also published as app and available as an online flipbook, free of charge.